Mar 17, 2011

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PAX East 2011: Daniel Erickson Audio Q&A

If you follow The Old Republic, you’re probably already well aware of our next interviewee!

Daniel Erickson is the Writing Director of BioWare Austin, and Lead Writer on Star Wars™: The Old Republic, and we had a chance to speak with him at the recent PAX East gaming convention in Boston.

What did we talk about? Well, for starters:

  • Light Side/Dark Side Points
  • Personal vs. Group Choice and Future Story
  • Re-playable Flashpoints
  • Advanced Classes – Reasons & Roles
  • Combat Balance & Importance of Testing
  • Pure Classes – Do They Exist?
  • Companions For Multi-Classing
  • Instanced Planets That Don’t Exist (Taral V)
  • Space Travel
  • Playing a Game vs. Experiencing the Setting
  • Off-line Skills

Daniel weighs in on some current hot topics, including giving a little bit of detail on how he’s using his companion, and how we should expect things to change between now and launch.

Daniel Erickson, Lead Writier

Daniel Erickson, Lead Writier

We have to apologize a bit for the audio quality. This was originally a video interview, however we ran into some “equipment” issues that compounded a bit when we went to process and edit. But, the content is still there and hopefully it’s enjoyable!

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Mar 14, 2011

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PAX East 2011: A Conversation With James Ohlen

Although it is no doubt a busy time for James Ohlen, Game Director for Star Wars™: The Old Republic, he still managed to fit a visit to PAX East into his schedule in order to spend time talking with fans about everyone’s favorite upcoming MMO.

We met James in a secret, undisclosed location deep within the bowels of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, and he was nice enough to have a conversation with us about the game… some of the topics we covered:

  • Guild System
  • Guild Progression
  • Possibility of Web/Mobile Tools
  • Achievements
  • Advanced Class Swapping
  • Melee vs. Range Combat
  • Cover
  • Guild Capital Ships
  • User Interface & Customization
  • Mac Support
  • Crew Skills & “Critting” During Crafting
  • … and more!

We just wanted to say thanks to James and wish him and the entire BioWare team good luck as they head into the home stretch toward release of The Old Republic later this year!

The general transcript is after the jump, but the listening to the audio is better for capturing the spirit of the conversation and some of the details!

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Mar 13, 2011

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PAX East 2011: Tython. Is. Beautiful.

Throughout all of the conventions that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ has been available for players to get their hands on, there has been one slightly minor omission: the Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular classes!

We heard from BioWare Senior Writer Drew Karphyshyn last year at Star Wars Celebration V that this was because they really wanted to get it right… The Jedi are, after all, arguably the most iconic characters in the Star Wars universe.

But that all changed here at PAX East… for the first time, the Jedi classes (Consular and Knight) were available on the show floor for fans to play. It’s one of the major reveals of the show!

So it was curious that there wasn’t any video footage of the Jedi origin world Tython popping up around the web. We decided to fix that!

Thanks to Senior Community Coordinator David Bass and the booth crew, we were allowed to go in and capture about 10 minutes of footage of a Jedi Knight during the starting area on Tython!

Let me just say, this video doesn’t do it justice. Tython is one of the most beautiful zones I’ve seen in an MMORPG. Period. I’ll just leave it at that.

Apologies for the shakiness at the beginning, it gets better after about a minute… Hope you enjoy!

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Mar 13, 2011

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PAX East 2011: Taral V Playthrough – Fansite Edition!

Yesterday, we were able to kick off day 2 of PAX East with a bang – a full playthrough of Taral V!  Even better, we were able to do it with peeps from other great TOR fan sites!

Our group consisted of:

Needless to say, the pressure was on! Luckily, we were able to make it all the way through to the end of the demo without any wipes!  We had a great time…

Darth Hater has already posted Pete’s playthrough as the Jedi Knight, and I believe TOROcast and Mos Eisley Radio will be doing the same – so you should be able to view the entire Taral V Flashpoint demo from all four class perspectives.

Enjoy! (We sure did!)

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Mar 12, 2011

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PAX East 2011: Taral V Developer Walkthru

And the good news just keeps on rollin’ at PAX East for fans of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™!

Today, BioWare released a full developer walkthrough of the Taral V Flashpoint that PAX East attendees have had a chance to get their hands-on all weekend long!

Don’t worry if you can’t join us this year at the show – we’ve put together an in-game walkthrough of Taral V that takes you through the demo with developer commentary. Enjoy this in-depth look at the gameplay of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™!

As someone who just played through Taral V not even two hours ago (hands-on impressions are coming, along with gameplay video!) I can tell you that if you’re following the game even casually, this is a must-see.

You can view it embedded here, or head over to swtor.com and download a high-res version!

 

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